Clarity
by hayleybear13
Summary: A Blood Elf and a Forsaken are forced to work together after crossing paths. Will they be at odds with each other or will feelings blossom between the unlikely pair? Rated M for language and possible future lemons.
1. Chapter 1

Ellie was sitting by a tree- her long, pale fingers flipping through pages in an old and torn looking book. She had been there for several hours, determined to finish her prayer book that a high priest had loaned to her to further her studies. Her ears perked a bit as she continued to read. She could've sworn she heard footsteps behind her but she tried to tune it out the best she could. However, she quickly found herself growing annoyed. The sounds were causing her to space out and lose focus on her book- she had reread the same paragraph several times but could not digest the meaning behind it. Sighing, she closed her book and peered over her shoulder. A small breath escaped her lips as she saw a figure hunched over on the ground. It was nearing sunset so she couldn't make out exactly who or what it was, however from their shoulders Ellie could assume it was a man. But who? Setting her book down on the grass, she moved closer and began to reach her hand out.

She screamed as the figure grabbed her arm and pulled her towards them- a silver blade pushed against her throat. She gripped their arm tightly, attempting to push the blade away. However, after a moment, she was released. Ellie fell to her knees and brought a hand up to her throat. There was no blood, thankfully. She gave herself a moment to recuperate before pushing herself back to her feet and looking at her attacker. In front of her stood a Forsaken man. The first thing she noticed was that his face was surprisingly intact, save for a small scar across his cheek. An intact face wasn't uncommon by any means but after several visits to Undercity and seeing the variety of rot-touched faces, it was always refreshing to see one. She observed his eyes next- the familiar, faint glowing yellow that was the tell-tale sign of a Forsaken. When he spoke, it snapped her out of her observations.

"Don't just walk up to people," he said sternly. His voice was slightly deep with a raspy undertone- he sounded younger but not overly so. He had probably been in his mid twenties when he died.

"Don't walk up to people?" Ellie asked incredulously, "I thought you were injured! I was trying to help you," she argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The Forsaken made to speak before shutting his mouth and before she could blink- he was gone. Stealthed, it seemed. Puzzled, she dropped her arms back to her sides and looked around her. Why did he stealth?

"Where are you?" she asked, still turning her head and looking around her. The whole situation was making her paranoid.

"Shhh," the Forsaken whispered nearby.

"What are you doing?" she hissed quietly, still turning around slowly, hoping to catch a glimpse of where the man was.

"Before you came along...I was trying to bait a rogue."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Wait, an Alliance rogue? Here? And you're making ME the bait?!" she hissed slightly above a whisper causing the Forsaken to shush her again.

"You're fine. Just act normal. So, maybe stop talking to yourself."

She rolled her eyes as he said that- she could hear the mocking tone loud and clear despite how quietly he was talking. This guy. If she made it out of this alive, she was going to kill him. However, she went along with it. It was dangerous to have an Alliance rogue wandering Eversong Woods so if she could possibly help capture him, she wanted to try. She walked back over to the tree and opened her book. She had no idea if the Forsaken was still there or not- it was extremely quiet. She had to take his word that he had actually seen an Alliance rogue and wasn't just messing with her. The doubt made it hard for her to play along, however she did her best to make it at least seem like she was absorbed in her book.

Fifteen minutes had gone by and when she was close to just leaving, she felt it. A sharp weapon tip pointed into her back. It was uncomfortable at the very least but bordering on slightly painful. Quickly, she put up a holy bubble around herself before turning to see a human rogue. A very young one at that. He must have only been in his teen years- which seemed like a baby to Ellie. Before she could react, The Forsaken hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of his dagger. The human dropped quickly- his weapons falling on the ground beside him. Ellie just stared, confused. The Forsaken looked around and walked towards the flight post, whose flight master had apparently gone away on break. He grabbed some rope that was lying on the ground and proceeded to check the human's pockets before quickly tying up his hands and feet. When he was finished, he slumped the human against the tree that Ellie had been sitting under moments before. Kneeling down, he observed the human's daggers and wound up tossing them into a pouch he had hanging loosely around his hips.

"Wait, you're just leaving him here?" Ellie asked, staring at the human- tied up and slumped against the tree.

"Yep, that's the plan."

"Shouldn't we hand him over to the guards or something?" she asked.

"You go ahead if you want," the man shrugged as he began sheathing his own daggers.

"Excuse me?" No. You're the one who found him and hit him. YOU bring him to the guards."

The Forsaken, however, wasn't listening. She watched as he was instead adjusting some things in his pouch. Annoyed, she picked up the heavy volume lying on the ground with both hands, brought it as far back as she could and launched it straight towards the undead man. She watched as he made to turn and move out of the way but was a split second too late. The book smashed into the back of his head hard- causing him to fall forward.

"What the fuck!" he yelled loudly.

Ellie breathed quickly, not believing she had actually done that. She had wanted to do it, but didn't think she would. It felt kind of good, if she was being honest. She watched as the man began to get up from being on all fours. She ran towards him and hopped on his back. He grunted from the sudden weight and she held onto his neck tightly.

"If you want to be on top of me so bad, maybe you could do us both a favor and wait until I'm facing the other way," he grunted beneath her weight.

Ellie could feel her cheeks burning at his statement, however she continued sitting where she was. She was determined to have him see her point of view, no matter what.

"Excuse me, miss. Is everything okay?"

Ellie looked up and she felt the blood drain from her face. A Silvermoon City guard had approached them.

"Er..." Ellie stammered. She was mortified but her body seemed to be frozen in place.

"Sir, this woman is attacking me," the Forsaken said as he looked up at the guard.

Ellie sighed and was about to explain when the guard took notice of the rogue they had found.

"What do you two know about this?"

Ellie followed his gaze towards the human. Okay, this she could explain. She slid off of the man and rolled her eyes as he stood up and dusted his clothing off. As if his clothing wasn't absolutely dirty to begin with. "Yes, actually. This man found him. The human attempted to attack me and we took care of him. Well, he did."

The guard looked at them both before responding, "Did anyone else help you?"

"No...," Ellie answered confused by the question. What an odd thing to ask.

"Come with me, please. Both of you."

This time the Forsaken stared at Ellie, annoyance written on his face. She stood a moment, watching two other guards come by and take the human away. Something was very strange.

Ellie and the Forsaken followed behind the city guard who insisted on moving at a brisk pace. Ellie imagined that if he wasn't carrying such a large shield, he'd probably be running. He finally stopped outside the front of Sunfury Spire and asked the two to wait.

Ellie watched as the guard left towards the Spire. Her eyes then returned to the Forsaken who was staring back at her- that same look of annoyance still on his face.

"If you have something to say, say it," she muttered.

"Just know that whatever it is we wind up having to do- this was your fault."

She sighed and looked away from him. He did have a point. She honestly wasn't expecting to be called down here. She figured the guards would take care of it and return the human to the Alliance in return for other Horde soldiers or maybe they would question him. What had she gotten them into?

Her question would be answered soon enough. She watched as two Royal Guards walked towards them.

"So, it was the two of you?"

Ellie nodded, "Yes."

"We have orders for the both of you to scope out the area and find the Alliance camp."

"Wait. An Alliance camp? In Eversong Forest?"

The Royal Guard eyed her before continuing, "Yes. We've had a few cases of civilians being attacked lately. We believe they have a settlement within our borders."

Ellie took in what he said and nodded at him. She looked at the Forsaken but he seemed to just be staring blankly at the ground, completely uninterested.

"Any questions?" the Royal Guard asked, looking over both of them.

"When can we stop looking for this camp or whatever?" the Forsaken quipped, leaving his blank gaze and looking at the guard.

Ellie wanted to nudge him but decided against it. How could he be so rude? The Royal Guard just smirked at the Forsaken before answering his question.

"You'll stop when the camp has been found and everyone has been taken care of."

Ellie swallowed, "Taken care of?"

"Killed or taken prisoner. Whichever is easier."

"Understood?"

"Yes," Ellie answered, very unsure of herself. She looked over at the Forsaken and saw him give a nod.

"Good."

And with that the guards left back to the Spire- leaving Ellie alone with a very annoyed Forsaken man.


	2. Chapter 2

"Tell a guard...," the Forsaken scoffed as he followed Ellie around. They had come up with a quick plan which involved dividing Eversong Woods up into four sections and each day they would scope out one section before camping for the night and doing the next one. Hopefully they would find the camp and be finished in four days. However, there could possibly be a camp set up just outside the borders but they would get to that later. Ellie in the meantime was stocking up on supplies- food, a flask for water, and maps of the nearby areas. The Forsaken said he had their sleeping arrangement taken care of so she held him to it. Not that she minded- she didn't have a lot of gold on her at the moment.

Once she was sure she had everything, she followed the Forsaken to their "sleeping arrangement". As they left the brightly lit Silvermoon City, Ellie squinted as she attempted to adjust her eyes to the sudden darkness of Eversong Woods. They would be sleeping tonight and getting an early start tomorrow it looked like. They walked a ways away from Silvermoon City and as they walked she began to see a small tent by a couple of trees.

"You're not serious," Ellie said aloud.

"What?"

"That tent? For both of us?"

"Don't worry, you'll fit," he chuckled.

Ellie's cheeks reddened as she hit his shoulder.

She watched as he opened the flap and went inside. Inside was a large bedroll and a lantern.

"Nice decor," she muttered.

"Thank you," the Forsaken replied.

"And what's this? One bedroll?"

"You can sleep outside it if you want."

"How about YOU sleep outside of it, since you technically don't even sleep," she shot back.

"The sleep cycle is my thinking time. I still like to lay down and think quietly."

"And you can do that outside of the bedroll."

"How about you stop overreacting and just share the bedroll. What are you worried about?"

Ellie sighed before squatting down and climbing into the tent. She set her supply bag in the top corner. She wasn't worried about anything per se...however didn't he think it was strange for them to share the same bedroll? Especially when they hardly knew each other? It was awkward.

She watched as he threw back the top part of the bedroll. "Ladies first," he gestured to where he had chosen her spot to be.

"Such a gentleman," Ellie mocked as she crawled to the spot and slid beneath the top cover of the bedroll. She watched as the Forsaken closed the tent flap and put out his lantern. He took a moment to remove his boots, placing them in the corner as well as his weapons and pouch from around his waist which he placed above the , he too, slid beneath the top cover of the bedroll and stared at the top of the tent. Ellie alternated between watching him out of the corner of her eye and also looking upwards at the tent. Ellie's heart pounded as she realized how close they were. She could feel the cool skin of his feet brush up against her ankle where her robe had ridden up. His upper arms touched hers and she felt the joint of his elbow- cool to the touch as well and with a hybrid texture that was mostly smooth with some slight bumps in places.

"So...," Ellie began. She took a quick glance at the Forsaken man and saw that his eyes were still looking above him. Their yellow hue shone dimly in the darkness providing her with a slight comfort, odd as it was. "Since we're working together, you should tell me your name."

She waited for a few minutes and when he didn't answer, she figured he was just going to ignore her. 'Whatever' she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and decided she would just try to sleep. They only had to work together for a few days, it's not like they had to get to know each other more. She just figured she'd try to be nice.

"Seth," he finally replied.

She opened her eyes and looked over at him, surprised that he answered. "Well, nice to meet you under these strange circumstances, Seth. I'm Ellie." She paused a moment as she thought quietly to herself. "Seth, hm? Was that your name in your past life?"

She felt him shift underneath the bedroll. Did that question make him uncomfortable? Ellie knew very little about the Forsaken. She was unsure how big of an influence a Forsaken's past life had on their current one- did they have memories? And if they did, did the past effect how they went about their future?

"Yes. It was my human name."

"Do you remember anything else? About your past life I mean," Ellie prodded growing increasingly curious.

"No," he answered after a slight pause.

Ellie could sense that things had become rather awkward so she decided to drop it. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked something so personal..."

When he didn't respond, she felt her stomach drop as a small wave of guilt hit her. She had been insensitive- Forsaken or not, he was still a living being. When he didn't respond after several minutes, she closed her eyes and attempted to sleep once again.


	3. Chapter 3

Ellie opened her eyes and blinked several times. It was still fairly dark but she figured by her lack of sleepiness that it was probably very early morning. She laid still a moment as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Ellie stretched and yawned before stopping midway through- Seth wasn't there. Sitting up quickly, she opened the tent flap and crawled out.

"Ugh...," she muttered quietly, as her hands softly sunk into the dewy morning grass. She stood up and peered around. There was no sign of him that she could tell. Did he just leave her? Could something have happened to him? Her mind filled to the brim with unfortunate scenarios that could have and could be taking place.

A gloved hand placed over her mouth brought her mind immediately back to the present. She let out a muffled scream- her heart felt like it had jumped all the way into her throat and she panicked.

"Be quiet, okay?"

She nodded, her heart thudding loudly. When the hand slipped away, she spun around to see Seth standing there. "Why can't you just say 'Hi' or 'Good morning' like a normal person?!" she hissed quietly.

He only shrugged as he wore a faint smile. She could tell he got a lot of enjoyment out of scaring her.

"What are you doing up so early?" she whispered.

"I heard foot steps. We should probably look around," he answered, adjusting his weapons. She observed his two daggers- both with faintly green blades. Poison. She'd hate to be on the receiving end of that.

Ellie looked up at him when she realized that he was watching her and awaiting an answer. She nodded and with that, Seth was stealthed.

She searched several feet around the tent, making sure there were no traps placed or people sneaking around. She did notice certain spots where the ground was very slightly sunken in- footsteps. The ones that Seth must have heard earlier. They were very close to their tent. The thought gave Ellie goosebumps and she shivered. If Seth hadn't been awake, what could've happened? Would she have been killed?

"Would you stop it, asshole."

Ellie's ears perked as she heard a gruff voice break the early morning calm. She walked quickly in the direction she had heard it. It was several feet to the left of where she had been. She stopped when she saw a Forsaken man. He was kneeling on the ground- his eyes looked glossy. Ellie stared confused, unsure of what was wrong with the man. As if her mind could be read, Seth came out of stealth- a faint smile on his face.

"He's sapped," he explained.

"What are you doing? He's not a member of the Alliance...," Ellie muttered, still confused by Seth's actions.

"He was the one who was sneaking around our camp."

"Did you ask him why?"

"I didn't get to that yet...," Seth sneered as he watched the Forsaken.

Ellie rolled her eyes. He could be so childish. You'd think dying and then coming back to life would mature a person but certainly not, at least not in Seth's case.

As Seth's sap wore off, the Forsaken man slowly came to. His glossy eyes began to return to their normal, dimly lit yellow hue and he finally stood up. It took him a few minutes to collect himself. Ellie wasn't sure exactly what being sapped did to someone but it seemed to put them in a highly catatonic state.

"Asshole...," the Forsaken muttered as he glared daggers at Seth, who only smirked in response.

Ellie was surprised at Seth. He was either very brave and confident of his skills or very stupid. The man before them was wearing some impressive armor that suggested he had conquered some tough foes. Seth's armor was also rather impressive, however Ellie wasn't sure how he'd fair if pitted against this Forsaken's large sword- it looked like it could cut him in two easily.

"You want to tell me what you were doing wandering around our camp?" Seth asked, the smirk fading quickly from his face and replaced by a serious look. He narrowed his eyes- staring hard at the other Forsaken.

"I was looking for some Alliance," the Forsaken answered, annoyance still written clearly across his face.

"Wait, you're looking for Alliance, too?" Ellie asked quickly.

"Ellie d-"

"What do you mean, "too"? Don't tell me the both of you are looking for a camp."

"Yes...we are," Ellie said, confused. Had the Royal Guard also asked this man to find the camp as well? Did they not believe that Ellie and Seth could do it or were they just getting more people to look so they could find it quicker?

"How do you know of any Alliance or a camp?" Seth asked, still watching the man closely.

"The Royal Guard asked me to after I came across a hunter."

Ellie nodded, understanding now. "So, you found an Alliance hunter and they sent you to help as well. It must be pretty serious. They're very desperate to find this camp."

"Does that mean I'm finished here? No need to bother if they're just sending more people," Seth said, stretching his back.

This time the other Forsaken sneered at Seth who noticed it quickly and returned his gaze.

"Figures," the Forsaken said as he held his stare with Seth.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just makes sense that a rogue wants to duck out of a mission. It's nothing new. I'm just happy for the priestess here that won't have to deal with a coward for much longer."

Ellie's eyes opened wide in surprise. Did he really just say that? She looked towards Seth and could see his jaw clench. His eyes seemed to get brighter as he glared at the other Forsaken. Ellie's heart was racing as she tried to think quickly of something to do. She didn't know much about Seth but she had a feeling that if she didn't intervene, he was definitely going to attack.

"He's not a coward," Ellie said, breaking the awkward silence.

Both of the men looked towards her and she blushed at the sudden attention.

"I'm actually with Seth because he saved me from an Alliance rogue. He saved my life," Ellie said. It wasn't a complete lie, Seth did...help her at least.

"Did he now?" the Forsaken asked, looking again towards Seth.

"Yes, he did," Ellie nodded.

"Maybe I misjudged you, rogue," he muttered finally.

Seth glanced at Ellie- she couldn't read his expression at all. He wasn't angry with her was he? She wasn't sure what else to do. She just didn't want a fight to break out between them.

"Anyway, I'm going to scope out the area," Seth said before stealthing.

Ellie's heart fell as she watched him disappear from sight- leaving her alone with the other Forsaken, who also seemed at a loss for words after Ellie's confession.


End file.
